NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 21, 2023

Kyle Schwarber

Chase Field

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame 5 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Kyle Schwarber.

Q. In which ways do you think Gallen's approach to the Phillies might be different in this game than it was in the first?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I think it's going to be more, for him, execution. I think if you go back and look at the way that he assessed his outing, he talked a little bit about some lack of execution and things like that.

For us, it's going to be, like we said, get him in the zone. When we do get that pitch, don't miss it.

We have a really good pitcher going across the way, and we're looking forward to the challenge today.

Q. Obviously your bullpen has been good for so much of the season. What makes you confident that to finish out this series that you guys will be able to hold leads late in games, and they'll be able to turn around that unit?

KYLE SCHWARBER: These guys have been so dependable throughout the year, especially the later part of the year. I mean, whenever these guys get the ball, there's an immense amount of trust in these guys.

Obviously, one, they have of great stuff. When they're executing in the zone, everything like that, it's just hard to hit. That's what they've done so well for us.

Yeah, a hiccup here last night, but we've got to move on. Everyone has to have that short memory on that and go back to really trusting themselves. These guys have been a huge piece of what we've been doing. We trust them to their full abilities.

Q. Has anyone yet texted you the screenshot of the all-time left-handed hitting home run leaders in the postseason history that says Kyle Schwarber one, Reggie Jackson, two? If you've seen that, what's your reaction on that?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Someone asked me about it last night. You know, it's great company to be in. For me I think all that stuff will be really cool when everything is going to be said and done, whenever I'm done playing baseball, and you are able to look back at all your accomplishments.

I've always said that just about any kind of success, right, that whenever you're done with wherever your year ends, you're looking forward to how you can get better and how you can look to improve.

I think that's why when it's all going to be said and done and you're not looking to try to improve on a year or how to prepare for the next season, that's when you are able to look back and see how cool those are.

Yeah, great company.

Q. You mentioned just you were listening to how Gallen assessed -- what he said about his outing. When you are facing a pitcher again so soon in a series like this, how much of it is like a mind game where you are trying to think along with him?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I think that's kind of part of the battle is where he's a guy who really believes in all of his pitches, right? It's hard to kind of think along with a guy who has all plus pitches and has faith in them. So that's why it's kind of just having your approach, whatever that's going to be.

You're going to make in-game adjustments throughout the game, whatever it is, but trying to be stubborn to whatever your plan is and go from there. Because he's had such a phenomenal year. It's going to be a great task tonight.

Q. Your plate appearances have a pretty tight range of outcomes. How good have you become at kind of putting aside the strikeouts and moving on to the next one and not letting that frustrate you?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I've struck out a lot before. I'll probably strike out a lot more. It is what it is. I'm not going up there trying to strike out. I'm not going up there trying to hit a home run. I'm not going up there trying to walk.

Everyone always says three true outcomes. I'm just going up there to take a quality at-bat and trying to hit the barrel on the ball. I think that's the biggest thing for me.

When you kind of ride the wave of success and failure, you can put yourself in a bad spot. So it's just trying to have a short memory. You know that Rhys Hoskins always says, whenever you make it to the plate, there's a chance.

Q. Arizona has gotten themselves back in the series. Is there a moment, a player, a thing about them these last couple of games that's been most impressive to you?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I think you look at the way that they've been able to string things together. Obviously Game 3 was Game 3. It was a tight game all-around, and they were able to get the big hit late in the game.

As you look at yesterday where we had the lead, and they kept finding a way to get guys on base and keep trying to find a way to put guys in scoring position and get that hit. That's what they did well. It's just the reality of it.

Tip your cap. Like we said, whenever you're in the playoffs, this isn't easy. There's going to be a lot of different scenarios that are going to be thrown your way when you're in a postseason series. It's never going to be easy to navigate through it, but at the end of the day you're just trying to win a series however you can.

Q. How much is this like last year with the Padres where basically you guys were Wild Card teams, unlikely opponents. You guys out of the East. Padres and D-backs out of the West. Are there any similarities? I know they're vastly different teams.

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah, I think the thing that you look about it is that both teams are playing really well at the time. There's obviously similarities and differences in the way that, one, they try to approach a game and things like that. This team is going to try to put pressure on you any way possible, if it's putting the ball in play, trying to work a walk, running game, things like that.

Versus last year a little bit different offense. But I think you look at the pitching staffs, and they've all got really good pitching. And I think that's the common denominator in postseason play is that pitching is at a premium. It's going to be tough on offense to go out there and try to score runs. And that's what we embrace as an offense is trying to come up with a game plan to score as many runs as we can.

Q. Basically to your point, really the playoffs now are not what you did during the regular season, it's just getting hot at the right time?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I've looked at it. I think adding another team to a Wild Card race, it is what it is. I played in the one Wild Card games before, and those teams that you've been on have been really good too.

Obviously winning as many games as you can in a regular season is very important because it's putting you in a really good position for the postseason to try to keep advancing. But I think to your point too, you have to play well. At the end of the day, you have to play really good baseball to win games in this format.